


Empty

by Northern_Lady



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, Past Child Abuse, Rebound, Romance, Suicide, toni and Cheryl breakup, traumatic childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Cheryl recovers from a breakup with an unexpected relationship.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom/Charles Smith
Kudos: 9





	Empty

Cheryl Blossom was having a bad day. Truthfully she was having a bad week. It started off with having a huge fight with Toni. The next day Toni broke up with her and moved out of Thistle House. On Wednesday her mother had requested to move back into Thistle House and Nana Rose’s dementia had reached the point that she had given her permission. Then on Thursday she had gotten her grades back and found that she only got a C in Calculus. A grade of C? She had never gotten anything less than a B in all her life. If all that weren’t devastating enough, now some creepy hillbilly stalker was following her at a distance as she walked home. 

Cheryl tried to ignore her follower as much as she tried to ignore the tears of frustration and grief that she knew must be evident on her face. She would simply have to keep moving and hope that he left her alone. She continued on for several blocks waiting for him to leave. He didn’t. He was starting to close the distance between them. She was on an ordinary street with houses and no public places or business offices that she could duck into. There was no place to hide. She was considering pulling out her cell phone and calling for a ride when she saw a solution up ahead. Charles Smith, Betty’s older half brother was out jogging just ahead on the opposite side of the road. He was headed towards her rather than away. She quickened her steps and crossed the street to meet him. 

“Excuse me Federal Agent Man,” Cheryl said on reaching him. “I must inform you that there are laws in this neighborhood that need enforcing.” 

“There probably are but that’s for local law enforcement to deal with,” he said, bending to retire his running shoe laces. 

“Well, can I at least walk the way you’re going until the creepy cowboy stalker goes away?” She asked him but it wasn’t entirely a request. 

Charles glanced at the man in flannel and cowboy hat who still remained across the street and then his gaze fell on her. “You’re Cheryl Blossom right?” 

“Yes, and you’re Charles, Betty Cooper’s older brother. Can I walk with you and be rid of the leering ranch hand or not?” 

“Sure. I’ll walk you home. Lead the way.” 

“Thank you,” she breathed a sigh of relief. 

“No problem. Now that you’ve pointed him out, that guy does look rather out of place in this neighborhood. Not that I’m profiling for flannel and Stetson hats…” Charles began. 

“It’s not really about the clothes or the hat, it’s the way he looked at me.” 

“How did he look at you?”

“Like I was his next rodeo,” Cheryl said, still creeped out by it all. 

“Well, that’s not gonna happen, not if I can help it,” he assured her. 

Cheryl smiled a little at that, surprised at herself for being affected by his willingness to rescue her. It felt good actually, to have a guy say something protective like that. Though she was definitely attracted to women most of the time, men were not without their charms, and it seemed that Betty’s older brother was especially charming. 

“How will you prevent it? By walking swiftly?” She asked him, somewhat teasingly. 

“Maybe,” He said with a nod. “Or maybe some other way. I will prevent it though. From what I hear, you’ve been through enough trauma without having to fight off an assailant.”

“Everyone in Riverdale has been through trauma. I imagine even you didn’t escape it.” 

“I spent a lot of my childhood under the care of Sister Woodhouse, if that tells you anything,” Charles told her. 

“Then I’m sorry to hear it. That woman was far more devil than saint.” 

It was several more blocks until they turned down the street to Thistle House. Cheryl was thankful that she was wearing her red jeans and converse sneakers rather than a skirt and heels for so long a walk. Charles was dressed in clothes for a long walk too, or jog, rather than his normal suit and tie. His athletic pants and white t-shirt though made it obvious to Cheryl that he was quite fit and should her stalker become a problem, he was capable of taking care of it. Charles proved to be a polite companion and he answered all her questions about how one gets a job at the FBI and what exactly an agent does from day to day. Her cowboy stalker eventually skulked off down a side street.

“Well, this is Thistle House,” Cheryl stopped at the gate out front, realizing that she was sorry to see him go. 

“It’s a very large house,” he commented, looking mildly impressed. 

“Thornhill was larger, but alas, it burned to the ground.” Cheryl said. “If you want to come in, I could give you the grand tour and a glass of Nana Rose’s famous lemonade. It’s the least I can do for my rescuer.” 

Charles looked hesitant to accept her offer. “I appreciate it, but I really should be getting back to work.” 

“And I appreciate you walking with me. Living through another assault isn’t how I wanted to remember my eighteenth birthday. A nice walk with a polite FBI agent is much better. Thank you.” 

“Then...you’re welcome. And happy birthday.” 

Cheryl watched him go, feeling sad about it for reasons she couldn’t quite define. 

***

Cheryl waited two days to go back to that street where she had met Charles jogging. She wore her running shoes and gym clothes and tried to make it as casual an encounter as she could but he would probably know that she had set out to find him. He was an FBI agent after all. He of all people would know when someone wasn’t being entirely honest. She wasn’t out jogging because it was part of her routine. She was simply looking for him. 

“Good morning,” Cheryl said as she jogged up beside him. 

“Morning,” Charles said with half a smile. “I didn’t take you for the early morning jogger type.” 

He knew. Cheryl tried to keep up the ruse anyhow. “I’m a cheerleader. We have to exercise too.” 

“Well, at least your cowboy friend didn’t send you here.” 

“I am indeed thankful for that,” she agreed. 

“Hold up, I gotta tie my shoe,” Charles stopped running and Cheryl slowed with him as he retied his running shoe. “If you’re worried about that guy still being in the neighborhood, he’s gone,” Charles stood to face her. “He got arrested for mugging a woman last night.” 

“That is good news,” Cheryl agreed. 

Charles looked like he wanted to say something else. He didn’t resume running. He instead ran his fingers through his sandy hair. Cheryl hoped he wasn’t about to let her down easily and send her away. Charles didn’t say anything though. He just gazed past her at the house behind her for a moment, as if lost in a daze. 

“Are you okay?” she asked him with concern. 

“Yeah. It’s just been a bad week. It started with a messy break up, then a case I can’t seem to solve, plus I’m having housing issues...but never mind all that. It’s a nice day for a jog. I should just focus on that.” 

“I too had a messy break up this week. A jog isn’t much of a distraction,” Cheryl said sadly. 

“Probably not enough. And normally, if a beautiful woman tried to join me in my routine I’d politely let her know that I have a boyfriend and then find an excuse to run elsewhere. But not today. Not you.” 

“Why not?” She couldn’t help but ask him. She was almost sure she was blushing at him calling her beautiful. 

“Because out of all the people in this town, I think you might be one of the few who get it,” he began. 

“Get what, exactly?” 

He sighed. “I’ve done a little investigating on all of Jug and Betty’s friends. I just wanted to make sure they were safe. Plus, there were a few bits of information that Betty told me herself. You’re one of the few people here who know what it is to be rejected by your own family.” 

“That is a feeling I do know too well,” She admitted, trying to hold back the tears now that he had dredged up the subject. 

“No matter if they do accept us now, we still had to live with being unwanted, being the least favorite for years of our lives. That’s not a pain that just goes away. You think you’ve dealt with it and then any other little rejection, like a break up, brings it all back again,” he told her, slightly emotional. 

Cheryl nodded, unable to bite back her tears. “It does. So what do we do?” 

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know I couldn’t send you away. I don’t feel much like running anymore. Walk with me?” 

“Okay,” Cheryl agreed. 

Charles fell in line at her side and this time he took her hand and held it. She couldn’t say that she’d ever had a guy hold her hand before. There had been a few dances, a few stolen kisses, and though she had enjoyed those experiences, they were only moments given begrudgingly because they felt obligated to dance with her. As she walked, she realized that she had never really had any affection at all from the men in her life. Her father had hugged her a handful of times and had done so coldly because shareholders were watching. Jason had on occasion hugged her but their closeness had been more conversational, they told each other everything. After a few blocks, she knew that this walk, holding Charles' hand was probably the most male affection she had ever gotten in one setting. 

“What are you thinking?” Charles broke the silence after a while. They hadn’t needed to talk until then. He had been right. There was a certain bond of empathy in their shared rejection. “You seem lost in sad thoughts.” 

“Only that, I don’t think any guy has ever held my hand for this long.” She admitted then continued uncomfortably. “But I know you said you had a boyfriend and my breakup was with a girlfriend so it’s not like this has to be anything more than a walk between friends who understand each other, right?” 

He nodded. “It could be that.” There was something unspoken in the phrase. 

“Or it could be…?” 

“I don’t know Cheryl. I don’t know. But maybe I’d like to figure it out, wouldn’t you?” 

“I think I would,” she agreed. “That’s Thistle House ahead. This time you’ll come in?” 

“This time I will.” 

***

Charles couldn’t say that he’d ever been invited into a house as nice as the Blossom family home. He had been in nice houses before of course, but always with a warrant, or with questions for a witness, never as a guest. Cheryl had given him the tour as promised and he currently sat in the conservatory drinking lemonade with Cheryl on a loveseat. 

“I can see why your Nana Rose’s lemonade is famous,” he said quite honestly. 

She smiled and he couldn’t help but note how pretty she was when she smiled. “I’m glad you like it. And what do you think of Thistle House?” 

“It’s a little intimidating.” 

“Oh,” she said, crestfallen. 

“What I mean is, it’s a beautiful house, but I’m not sure that someone with a background like mine could ever belong here.” He said, both about the house and about spending any significant amount of time with Cheryl. He liked her, he had no doubt of that, but he didn’t really feel worthy of her. 

“Toni said the same thing. She grew up in a trailer park and didn’t think she belonged here. In the end she fit in just fine...for a while…” 

“She was your girlfriend?” he guessed it by her tone. 

“She was, but she told me I needed help, that she couldn’t be my therapist anymore and I refused to get any help so…” 

“So she left,” he finished it for her. “But do you? Do you need help, I mean?” 

“Maybe. Probably.” She poured herself more lemonade. “I didn’t realize it was true until she was gone though. Now she’s gone to live with her Uncle out west. We’re over for good. What about you? Was your break up for good or do you still hold out hope for reconciliation?” 

Charles shook his head. “No it’s over. He’s in prison now.Thirty years.” In fact, his partner had just been implicated in an additional crime and his sentence was increased. They would never have a life together. 

“So what are we doing here? Is this the rebound?” she asked him seriously, her eyes searching his. 

“I hope not. They never last. I think what we’re doing is drinking lemonade and enjoying the company of someone who gets it.” He reached over and held her hand for the second time. 

Cheryl set aside her glass of lemonade, picked up her feet to curl up on the loveseat, and leaned just close enough to him to rest her head on his shoulder. “Does it ever get easier? I mean it must have helped when you found Mrs Cooper and learned that she regretted giving you up?” 

“You’d think it would help but regret doesn’t change the past. I do my best to forgive it and work on the future but sometimes it resurfaces, you know?”

Cheryl nodded. “Even if Mommy did regret the horrible things she did to me, I don’t think I would even believe her.” 

“What did she do to you Cheryl? I know that your brother Jason was the favorite, but what did she do?” 

For the next two hours Cheryl poured out her story to him. All her years of trauma and neglect and coldness from both her parents were shared and when she was finished he shared his own story. He told her about years of waiting to be adopted, wondering why his parents didn’t want him, being mistreated by Sister Woodhouse and various foster parents. And the fact that even though his biological parents had accepted him into their lives, they were clearly closer to the children they raised. He was an adult now with his own life and could never get back what had been lost. It was therapeutic to share it with someone who could understand in their own way what it meant to be rejected by a parent. 

“We are quite the pair,” he observed when he had finished and Cheryl was wiping away tears of sympathy at what he had told her. 

“That we are,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. She was still curled up next to him, her head on his shoulder. 

“I’ve never dated a woman before,” he admitted. “I mean unless you count one time high school dances, a couple of which ended with a kiss, but never an actual relationship.” 

“I had the same experience. A few dances, a few kisses, never anything more.” 

“Then would you mind if I kissed you now?” he asked. 

She took her head off his shoulder and moved away just enough that she could look up at him. “After everything I’ve been through...it’s really sweet of you to ask my permission.” 

And Cheryl reached up and kissed him. 

***

Cheryl sat alone on the loveseat in the conservatory. She could hardly believe that she’d just spent the entire morning curled up next to a sweet hunky guy who not only listened to her troubled past but stayed to make out with her for twenty minutes before making his exit to go to work. The entire experience had been a novelty that she hoped would be repeated in the near future. Charles had asked to see her again tomorrow. They’d made a breakfast date and exchanged phone numbers. She didn’t know where this was going to go but she knew she wanted to find out. And yet she felt guilty too. She shouldn’t be moving on so soon. She still missed Toni and wanted her back, despite knowing that it was truly over between them. 

Cheryl’s phone pinged, pulling her from her conflicted thoughts. It was from Betty. “Meet me at Pop’s for lunch?” 

Half an hour later Cheryl was seated at a booth across from Betty drinking a milkshake. 

“So a bunch of us were thinking of going camping for the weekend tomorrow,” Betty was saying. “We could head out early and have two whole days of just the lake and the canoes and all our friends.” 

“That sounds like fun but...I can’t,” Cheryl said reluctantly. 

“Cheryl, I’m not gonna let you stay home alone feeling sorry for yourself. You have to come.” 

“No, I really can’t,” she protested. She didn’t want to blow off her date with Charles and she couldn’t tell Betty about it either. “I’ll be fine though. I promise.” 

“Are you sure?” Betty asked with concern. 

“I have a date. I know it’s probably too soon but I can’t just cancel.” 

Betty looked momentarily taken aback. “Oh. Well, who’s the lucky girl?” 

“It’s a guy this time.” 

“Oh. I didn’t realize that…” 

“That I’m bi. It’s okay. It’s not as if I advertise it,” Cheryl accepted Betty’s confusion without insult. 

“No, but you said once that none of the men of Riverdale were worthy of your time,” Betty reminded her. 

“I guess I did. Anyway, he’s not exactly from Riverdale so no worries about him being unworthy.” 

“Not exactly from Riverdale?” Betty said with a smile. “What exactly does that mean? You’ve piqued my curiosity.” 

“And curious you will have to remain. I’m not ready to share any more information just yet.” She just wasn’t sure if she should let Charles break the news or if they should both wait and find out if they were serious or not. 

***

In the space of a week, Charles was sure that Cheryl was someone he wanted in his life for the long term. He woke up in her bed unclothed as she slept contentedly in his arms. Last night had been the first night he’d spent with a woman. She’d told him it had been a first for her too. All he knew was that he didn’t like the idea of a future without her in it. She was intelligent and brave and witty enough to throw out hilarious insults when she felt threatened. And more than that, she looked at him like he was some damn hero. Being an FBI agent didn’t make him a hero. Walking her home and protecting her from stalkers didn’t make him a hero either. Yet, she knew about his messed up past, about the drugs, and she still looked at him like that anyway. It didn’t make sense. He knew it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid and she’d leave. 

Cheryl smiled a little as she awoke and found him there. “Did you sleep well, Federal Agent Man?” she asked, using the nickname she had given him. 

“Yeah, I did. You?” 

She nodded sleepily. “I did. You have the day off today, right?” 

“Why, do you have plans for us?” 

“It’s mother’s birthday tomorrow. I’m obligated to get the monstrous matron a gift of some sort but I don’t want to do it alone.” 

“You’re not obligated to get her anything,” he said sadly, defensively. 

“Maybe not, but if I don’t then…” 

“Then she’ll never like you?” he asked, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He had thought on those lines often enough himself and been tempted to buy his way into his family’s affections. 

“You’re right,” she said deflated. “I don’t owe her anything.” 

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll come with you to get a gift anyway,” he offered. 

“But you just said…” Cheryl began, confused. 

“I know I did. But I think you’re gonna go get a gift anyway no matter what I said. You shouldn’t do it alone.” 

Cheryl smiled again and then she moved closer to kiss him. It was a while longer before either of them got out of bed. 

***

Dinner at the Jones house wasn’t going well. On the surface it seemed to be a normal enough dinner but Charles didn’t always hold up during these events as well as he might have liked. Of course he never let it show. If he felt under stress or threatened he dealt with it by putting on his best tie and remaining as polite and well mannered as possible. Cheryl would have probably done the opposite, dressing dangerously and hurling witty insults but that wasn’t how Charles operated. He hid his insecurities by being extra nice. 

Jughead had spent the entire meal complaining about one of his school teachers and FP had supported his every complaint. It was good that Jug had a parent who supported him. Charles kept telling himself that over and over as the conversation progressed. And he kept politely passing the salt and the peas and the butter to whoever asked for them. 

“What do you think, Chuck?” Jughead asked him, putting Charles in the spotlight. 

“I think if your teacher is giving out unwarranted detentions you can always take it up with the school board,” Charles said in an even tone. This was not remotely close to what he really thought on the subject. 

“I tried that and they’re not doing anything. Every detention is a waste of two hours of my time that I could be doing something productive,” Jughead complained. 

“I could go down there and talk to them,” FP offered. 

Charles clenched his jaw. He didn’t know why this was getting to him as much as it was. He was twenty seven years old now. High school had been a long time ago and he’d thought he’d worked through most of these issues. Or he hoped he had. Apparently that was not the case. He pushed back his chair, knowing he could not hide behind his polite facade for much longer. 

“Forgive me, I just realized the key in one of my cases. It’s been alluding me for a while but the answer came to me just now. I need to go take care of this right away,” he said as he got to his feet. 

Charles almost made it to the front door when FP caught up to him. 

“Are you alright, Charles?” FP asked. “Something tells me this isn’t just about a case.” 

“You’re right, it’s not,” for a moment he considered pouring out the whole truth right then and there.Then the moment passed. The truth wouldn’t change anything. The past was done with, unchangeable. “I just have some personal issues to work through.” 

“They don’t have to be,” FP said. “They don’t have to be personal issues. Whatever is going on you can tell us.” 

“It’s a little late for that,” he said, allowing a little of the bitterness he felt into his tone for once. Then he switched back to being polite. Being polite was safe. “Thanks for the meal. Have a good night.” 

Charles went out the door and had his hand on the door handle of his car when he saw that FP had followed him out. 

“It’s a little late for what?” FP asked as he came down the steps. There was anger in his tone but there was concern as well. The rest of the family was on their way down the steps, apparently all of them wanted to keep him from leaving. 

“What’s going on with you Charles?” Alice asked worriedly. “You’ve been tense all night.” 

He shook his head. “I’m always tense when I come over here. Usually, I’m better at hiding it.” 

“Why?” Alice asked, hurt. “If you feel uncomfortable in my house…” she trailed off and then continued. “Then that’s my fault. It’s my fault for what I did and I’m sorry. I really-” 

“Don’t apologize,” he cut her off. “You already did that before. That’s why I never said anything about these visits.That’s why these are my own personal problems. The past can’t be changed. I have to work through it in my own way.” 

“Did you ever think that maybe we could help you work through it?” FP asked him. 

Charles shook his head. “I don’t think that would work out so well. It would just cause bad feelings all around.” 

“Couldn’t you try it anyway?” Betty asked. “Just this once? What happened that caused you to leave just now?” 

Charles swallowed back the lump in his throat. “When I was eleven a school teacher got me alone in a closet and…” he trailed off. 

“Oh my God…” Alice covered her mouth with her hand. 

“I was in a foster home at the time. I tried to tell them what had happened and they wouldn’t believe me. Or maybe they just didn’t care. After that, it went on for months and I tried reporting it to the proper authorities but this teacher was educator of the year so...I eventually got shipped off to a different foster home and a different school. Anyway, a detention here and there isn’t that big of a deal, especially not when you have parents who will try to end the injustice of a detention so you can have back all your precious time. I had no one to fight for me.” Charles told them, trying still to hold back his anger and not quite managing it. “I had no one to fight for me when the foster homes didn’t feed me or when the group homes beat us for some stupid infraction. Then I come here and see what it could have been like. So yeah, I do get angry sometimes. But like I said, the past can’t be changed and I just have to work through it somehow.” 

“Why don’t you start by coming back inside and having dessert?” FP said. “We want you with us now. It’s the only thing we can offer.” 

Charles nodded and FP reached over and hugged him. For a moment, Charles hugged him back before they all went back into the house. 

***

Cheryl sat at a booth at Pop’s across from Charles. It was the first time in the entire month they had been dating that they had a date in Riverdale. All their dinners had been in Glendale thus far. Now it was time, they decided, to allow people to know they were a couple. 

“What do you think they’ll say, your family?” Cheryl asked him. She was aware that he was getting along with them better though he still had a lot of hurt to work through. 

“I don’t know. I don’t care,” he said with a smile.

“I think you do care. Their approval means something to you, more so than it does for me when it comes to my evil mumsy.” 

“You’re downplaying that a bit, Cheryl or else you wouldn’t have spent nearly so much on her birthday gift.” 

“Point taken. Oh look, Bughead is on the way in here. This is the moment,” Cheryl watched anxiously as they came through the door. 

“Cheryl? Charles?” Betty approached the table dragging Jughead by the hand behind her. “Is this your mysterious new boyfriend?” She asked Cheryl. 

“That would be correct,” Cheryl confirmed. 

Betty’s mouth dropped open and she glanced at Jug for his reaction. He merely shrugged with half a grin on his face. “I never would have guessed. Can we join you?” Betty didn’t wait for a reply. She slid into the seat next to Cheryl. “Do your mother and your Nana Rose know?” 

“They do. They know and they approve.” Of course her mother approved because the partner was male this time but at least she did approve. 

“Well if it means anything, so do we,” Jug said. 

***

“Charles and Cheryl Blossom?” Alice was aghast. “It’s bad enough that Polly fell for a Blossom and now this.” 

“Mom…” Betty tried calming her mother down. Charles was going to be arriving for supper any minute. He didn’t need to show up and find her like this. “It’s not that big of a deal. They looked really happy together.” 

“They looked really happy? That’s how you’re going to justify this?” Alice argued. “Charles is an FBI agent and a well mannered handsome young man. He can do a hundred times better than that red headed trollop.” 

A floorboard creaked. Alice and Betty looked over to see that Charles and Cheryl had arrived for supper unnoticed until that moment. 

“Good evening Mrs Cooper,” Cheryl smiled broadly and pulled out a chair at the dining room table. “I love how you’ve redecorated the murder house. I can’t say that I blame you for changing everything around. If it were me I wouldn’t want any reminders that I couldn’t do any better for myself than the Black Hood.” She said as she casually took her seat. 

Charles didn’t sit. He remained standing and looked clearly uncomfortable. Alice looked equally uncomfortable. The two stared at each other a moment. Then he reached for Cheryl’s hand. “Come on Cheryl, let’s have dinner somewhere else.” 

“Charles wait?” Alice said as Cheryl got up to follow him out. 

He ignored her and made for the door. She ran ahead of him and blocked the doorway. 

“I’m sorry. What I said was uncalled for.” she told him calmly but sincerely. “Please, just stay.” 

“Yes, it was uncalled for, but you meant it. That’s why I can’t stay. Cheryl has been through enough rejection. I’m not making her sit through a dinner where she isn’t wanted.” 

“That’s not strictly true, Charles,” Alice said defensively. “Cheryl has been in this house plenty of times to visit Betty and she was perfectly welcome to be here. I don’t dislike her. Not really. I’m just not sure I understand this relationship of yours. What could you possibly have in common?” 

He thought about her question for a moment before replying. “When you spend your entire childhood knowing that you’re not important to anyone, it leaves an emptiness inside. That’s what we have in common, the emptiness.” Charles reached around Alice and grabbed the doorknob. Stunned, she stepped aside and let him out. 

Once Charles was gone Alice let the tears fall. 

***

Charles and Cheryl were halfway through their supper at Pop’s that same night when FP and Alice pulled up on a motorbike. 

“What do they want?” Cheryl asked, watching them from out the window. 

“Probably to apologize,” he said, half annoyed at the prospect. 

“You don’t sound happy about that.” 

“I’m sick of apologies,” he told her. “People need to just do the right thing in the first place. Being sorry doesn’t fix it.” 

FP and Alice marched into Pop’s and took a seat in the booth where Cheryl and Charles sat. 

“We need to talk,” FP said as he slid in next to Charles and placed a stack of papers on the table. 

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” Charles said. 

“There is,” FP insisted. “These are arrest warrants from the past couple of weeks. I did some digging, found names and dates, and got a buddy of mine with the state police to draw these up. You need to take a look.” 

Charles picked up the stack and began to read through. “That’s my teacher when I was eleven, and the foster parents who didn’t feed us and…” he read further through the list, seeing the names of many of the people who had wronged him. People he hadn’t considered going after himself. He had merely tried to drown the pain with drugs. Seeing the names now on arrest warrants choked him up a little. 

“I found as many of the people in your past as I could. Your former teacher was arrested last night. I thought you should know,” FP explained. 

“But why…?” he asked, confused. 

“Why?” Alice said. “Because you’re our son.” 

“We should have been there to protect you but since we weren’t there, we are gonna do everything we can to make it right,” FP assured him. 

“I do appreciate that but…” Charles began. 

“But that doesn’t fix it,” Alice finished the phrase for him. “Believe me, I know. This was still something we felt we had to do for you.” 

“Then...thanks…” Charles said. 

“And as for Cheryl,” Alice continued. “The more I’ve thought about it, the more the two of you make sense. My initial dislike was the same reaction I had whenever Betty or Polly brought home a date. It takes me a while to warm up to the partners my children pick but that doesn’t mean that I reject them. It means that I am being a protective mother and I think that’s something you needed more of in your life.” 

“In that case,” Charles began, as he thought over her words, “Maybe we could reschedule supper at your house? Maybe tomorrow?” 

Alice smiled. “Tomorrow is good.” 

After that, FP and Alice left the couple to finish their supper. 

“Did you mean what you said to Alice tonight about the emptiness being the thing we have in common?” Cheryl asked him. 

“That’s where it all started, yeah. We also have in common our good looks and charming personalities.” 

“This is true,” Cheryl smiled in agreement. “And don’t forget our genius level intellect.” 

The pair of them joked a little longer and finished their meal before heading back to Thistle House. 

***

“Cheryl? Wake up?” Penelope woke up Cheryl from a sound sleep. 

Cheryl opened her eyes and found her mother standing over her. She pulled up the blankets a little higher since she was not dressed and Charles was still asleep. 

“What do you want Mumsy?” she asked in a whisper. 

“There’s something wrong with Nana Rose. I’ve called an ambulance. I thought you should know.” With that Penelope strode out of the room. 

Charles was awake and the two of them dressed quickly and rushed out just in time to see Nana Rose being wheeled out on a stretcher. 

“Well now,” Penelope said as the ambulance drove away. “I hope that’s the end of that.” 

“If she dies, this house will be mine. I’m not letting you stay,” Cheryl told her mother. 

“You’d throw out your own Mother, Cheryl?” 

“Yes. And if someone has to die, I would rather it was you and not Nana Rose.” 

Penelope rolled her eyes, not the least bit affected by the insult. “Honestly Cheryl, Nana Rose doesn’t care about you. She’s only letting you inherit everything to spite me.”

Cheryl opened her mouth to throw out another insult but Charles spoke instead. 

“Why are you so cruel to your own daughter?” He asked. 

Penelope took a step back as if she had never considered such a question before. She remained silent a moment before speaking. “I am aware that I have been hard on her. I am aware that mothering is not one of my strengths. I have moments when I regret that.” 

“Then why do you do it?” Charles asked her. 

“Is that supposed to be an apology?” Cheryl asked before Penelope could answer Charles. 

“Regret is not the same thing as sorrow. As for why, I have never been pleased with the person I turned out to be and I see myself in Cheryl. Perhaps it is cruel but life is cruel.”

“That’s a terrible excuse,” Cheryl said. “I’m going to the hospital to sit with Nana Rose. You can feel free to sit here Mumsy and hate yourself alone.”

“Cheryl?” Penelope called after them. “I have a million dollar life insurance policy. You’re the beneficiary. If something happens to me it’s in the drawer next to my bed.”

It was only after they got to the hospital that Cheryl understood what her mother had done. She and Charles rushed back to Thistle House but they were too late. Penelope Blossom was dead. 

They stood over her body on the bedroom floor, her wrists cut, and Cheryl didn’t understand why she was crying. Charles picked her up and held onto her while she sobbed against him while they once again waited for an ambulance, this time just to declare her death. 

Cheryl waited until after her mother’s body had been taken away to get out the insurance policy. She looked at it with disgust. 

“Maybe...maybe she left that for a reason,” Charles suggested gently. 

“Why, so I would forgive her?” 

He shook his head. “Maybe she was trying to tell you she cared about you in some demented way.”

“That’s a nice sentiment but I’d rather she had actually cared.” 

“I care,” he reminded her. 

“I know,” Cheryl stepped into his hug and let it envelop her, thankful that she still had one place where she did not feel empty.


End file.
